


Laika The Three Legged Space Pup

by Cuda (Scylla), janto321 (FaceofMer)



Category: Supernatural, Superwood - Fandom, Torchwood
Genre: Don't copy to another site, Ficlet Collection, M/M, Pets, Vignette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-07
Updated: 2018-12-07
Packaged: 2019-09-13 15:21:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 732
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16895088
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scylla/pseuds/Cuda, https://archiveofourown.org/users/FaceofMer/pseuds/janto321
Summary: A small collection of ask ficlets about Laika, the dog that Castiel and Jack have for a time.





	Laika The Three Legged Space Pup

**Author's Note:**

> These were originally posted on tumblr in October 2017

They have a rule about no pets because damnit it always hurts, but there's this puppy and she's injured, we can't just leave her. And that's how Laika the three-legged space puppy starts her journey through the stars.

**

Laika never let 3 legs slow her down. Castiel once had to chase her through the market on Hithon when she took off after the local version of a squirrel. When they were on ship she'd run back and forth, sometimes barking out the window or playing fetch with Jack as he leaned back in the pilot's seat. On one snowy world she jumped out the door and promptly disappeared into a snow bank. Jack laughed as he pulled her out, tucking her into his coat, Cas smiling at them both.

Omg. Laika’s little cartoon dog-shaped hole in the snowdrift.

**

Okay, but the first time Laika sees a Catkind, she doesn't know what to think and alternates between barking at them and hiding behind Cas's legs.

“Put her in the ship. We don’t need to start *another* national incident.”

**

Laika is, well, a godsend when Cas is called away for a time. Jack knows how bad it can get when he's alone. So he parks the ship at some quiet backwater port and gets a job as a mechanic. The local kids love Laika and come by often to play with her, Jack smiling as she chases after sticks. Late at night he lays in bed and pets her as she sleeps, tuckered out and all 3 legs splayed out. And for once Jack isn't quite so lonely.

Jack probably has a difficult time with pets in general and I can’t help thinking he tried VERY hard not to get attached to Laika. And then this happens and he’s trying to make all these ground rules about where she sleeps and no begging at the table and tries to treat her like a useful object for the sake of his sanity. And she - not unlike a certain wavelength of celestial intent - is disobedient af and makes it obvious that she loves him no matter what and wants to be with him and is miserable when they’re apart.

And he tells his irritation about all this to Castiel. All he gets back is a surge of empathy and warm amusement.

He lets Laika curl up with him on the bunk when he reads, one day when there’s a lull. Her joy is palpable.

It’s all downhill, as they say, from there.

**

One time Jack managed to get himself lost in a snowstorm and there was interference so Castiel couldn't just go to him. Luckily Laika was there and despite drifts over her head, she led Cas right to him. Jack was half froze but had actually managed not to die. Cas sheltered him in his wings on the way back, Laikia tucked deep into Jack's coat, while Jack made jokes about how it hadn't been that bad and acted like he hadn't been scared.

Pfff and next time they go to a winter planet they tie a little barrel on her collar with a tiny bottle of hypervodka, two shotglasses, and a beacon in it.

**

Jack saved Laika’s life once too. Jack and Laika were cutting through an asteroid belt with some questionable merchandise when they came under attack. Jack managed to lose their pursuers, but the ship was barely holding together. As much as he hated dying in the vacuum of space, he could come back, Laika couldn’t. So he chucked the pup into the escape pod seconds before the ship imploded.

When Jack came to it was tucked into a bed with the sound of a warm fire to his left, Laika tucked against his right and an angry Angel of the Lord looming over him. “That was very stupid, Jack.”

**

Sometimes it got to be too much. Sometimes the world was too heavy. Jack would find Cas sitting alone, looking out at whatever landscape they had handy. Sometimes battles were lost. Sometimes the bad guys came out ahead. But they could live to fight another day, no matter the darkness. Jack came out of the engine room one day to find Cas - still bloody and battered - cured up in his bunk, Laika tucked in his arms. Jack simply sat by him, knowing the best he could offer was they were not alone.


End file.
